Survival

Varrick looked up from his desk in Rehume and sighed, still so much to do and so little time. He finished scribing the final copy of his letter to be sent out

Nobel Leaders of Tukin, The Dwarven Stronghold, North Hutt, Pelegious, The Fire Nation, High Port, Crymeeria, Chistles Point and Don-Ton.

I write this as we come into our days of victory. Rehume moves forward to recognise the Hero’s of the Dark Invasion Wars, and proposes that an Art Commission be created to recognise Hero’s both living and dead, and create statues, murals, tapestry’s and carvings to be placed in each major city, reminding us for generations to come of our bond through these hard times. The art is to be heroes of the war efforts and not specifically religious in nature, thus only public city grounds and buildings will be used, any art for churches can be commissioned by individual churches, I have no interest in debating religion whilst trying to honour our departed. Rehume is willing to provide artists, working space and funds towards this endeavor, if your city would like to have members on the art commission please let me know and we will make the necessary arrangements. So far here are a few of the Heroes we would like to recognise, and the type of art to be commissioned, please note I am starting with our dead first then moving to the living, in no way is this order to be taken as a ranking of worth for the heroes. I am sure there are many more to be added but here is our list to start

“Have the Master of Sails make ready, we depart in under an hour; anyone not onboard is being left behind”

“Aye Aye Captain” the Boson replied with a salute. George walked up the makeshift dock towards the gangway, it was then he heard the voice calling to him from behind.

“You’re leaving now? The party is just getting going” the Rogue recognised the voice and sighed, he could tell by the slight slur in her words that she was already deep into her cups.

“Looks like you’ve been enjoying it already Princess, and yes I have much to do” he couldn’t help but smile, Princess Yolonda wore a simple yet stylish red tunic, a small silver circlet laid over her close cropped hair. Somehow she had found time to clean up after the events of the day. Her Urgosh hung on a fine leather strap over her shoulder that connected to her belt brown and gold belt. Her cheeks were reddened and she held a clay bottle that was likely some dwarven ale. She stepped closer standing about five from him

“Didn’t ya hear sailor… wars all won, time’s come to lift a cup and enjoy life” she accented her point with a deep pull from her bottle. George grinned and shook his head slowly

“This war MAY be done… but we are far from finished, and I have to be back on the coast by this time tomorrow, that means no cup raising for me” he said putting on a small pout for show. She took another step closer standing very close to him, he suddenly noticed how good her hair smelt.

“I am sure there is some way to convince you to stay for a while” she said coyly. George coughed taking a half step back

“Ahem… and where per say are the King and Queen right now?” he asked. She looked at him

“King Yolo and Mother are in the Stronghold deep in celebrations… do you remember when we first met?” she asked as she stepped close again

“Yes… I do” George said. She looked up at him and whispered

“Hello, I’d like some sex… please” her voice was low

The Stubby Narwhale did not leave port that night, the Captain had changed his plans telling the crew that the war was won, and perhaps they should take the evening to enjoy themselves… one only lives once.

15th of Sunsebb or what we now refer to as VA Day (Victory on Argyle Day)

“My name is Orik Ironeye, and I was there, I have been tasked to be to summate what has happened in these last days in order to aid in the preservation of our great history.

King Yolo Giant Slayer of the Dwarven Imperials slew the goddess Hrusha and brought back his clansmen from her plane. He unleashed a cloud of death that destroyed the armies of our enemies and crippled what few survivors were left. He strode forth of the field of battle and accepted the unconditional surrender of the Devil armies, banishing them from his plane He then led a host of his clansmen to the gates of the Dwarven Stronghold where he proclaimed himself King of all Dwarven and Dactyl people. He and his wife then allowed the ale and food to pour into the stronghold as his troops celebrated declaring at long last the war to be done. It was a hard fought victory, 40,000 of our brothers died this day alone to bring it about, but now our children and theirs will live in a time of peace and freedom, they shall never fear the dark ones again, so say we all!”

“My name is Elise Lockheed, I am a bard of some small skill and have been asked for my interpretation of what happened on VA Day. I can tell you, as I was where the war truly turned around and changed.

Hyzuki Island was quiet that day, I was supposed to be with the main force that had departed by river the week earlier, but due to a last minute scheduling issue I had missed my boat and seemed destined to miss out on the final assault on the strong hold. I was indeed sadden, rumors abounded of the might of the Water Lord and to witness it firsthand would have truly be something. I know now however that the fates were holding me in reserve. We had all felt the tremor, now I know it was the mountain that fell, but then… we had no idea… the commander in charge of the guard called people out of doors, worried of another earth shake and looking to our safety, again I give this to the fates, to have so many amassed so quickly in one space. It was then that we were called, messengers running about saying the Lady of Hyzuki Island needed to be heard… we had all thought she was to be at the battle, how was she here now? What did it mean? We gathered in the main square as she stepped forward and spoke… I remember her words as if she said them only now

‘We need not only balance, but all elements, Hrusha is dead, and I go now to save us all, pray for my success, send me your love and good will. Know me now as Aurora, Mistress of Air.’

I wasn’t sure what was happening at first, no one was really ready for this. The air in her hands began to swirl in a small twister, as it picked up her arm vanished and then her entire body, the twister grew, but we did not fear it, we knew it would not hurt us… We had seen something special, a Goddess ascending, and she was doing it for us… Aurora sent out a cloud of death killing our enemies and those who lacked faith in her, she then recalled the cloud locking it into another realm, one that awaits those who are to be punished after this life and allowed the dwarves and dactyls to go forth and claim victory… Aurora is the Goddess of Air and I saw it happen.”

“I write this script to be entered into the Silverfish Libraries of Rehume and be copied and placed into the history annals of the Panoptic Laboratory of Enlightenment at Chistles Point, I will leave it to the Torrent to decide how the temples and churches will document this. My name is Varrick Galespiri I am the Governor of Rehume.

You see the original plan had always been for a miracle, the Avatars were to summon the might of Kelezandri to call forth a new river and deliver our forces to the Western front to the dwarven stronghold, we expected heavy fighting but were relatively confident that we could be able to win the day or at least take the Stronghold and demand a stalemate. I was overseeing Homeland defense and preparing food and medical transport upon victory. As I understand it King Yolo’s plan did not work as expected, his mountain and kin managed to cross planes, but they broke something in the process, you will have to get a planar mage to speak more of it but something went bad… very bad. The effects of the rip somehow created the cloud of death, the cloud hurt not only the devil troops but our own as well, somehow those at ground zero were ok, but anyone further out… they were subject to a terrible fate, that is where the noble Hed Moredakka met is untimely end, I will say he died well, saving the lives of many others before succumbing to his wounds… he is being honoured post harmoniously with the Silver Scale of Rehume, a medal of honour for a brave solider. The Avatars did not tarry, they leapt into action organising the world’s finest wizards and putting together a plan. Using their might and abilities as natural leaders they managed to close the great void long enough to allow the wizards to seal it and disperse the cloud of death. After this having no other mortal tasks left on this world they Ascended to Godhood, becoming the Frozen Goddess, The Lord of the Vialed Mysts and The Lady of the Seas and all Moist Realms. Embracing their new powers they quickly raced across Argyle healing the sick, saving those who could be saved, destroying the remainder of the Devil armies and banishing them back to hell. Whilst they did all this they managed to keep Cthulhu and Talib at bay from attacking in our time of distraction… These Gods, my friends if I may be so bold have saved us all, and from enemies we oft did not know we had, blessings of the pantheon of water be to you, for they truly are the bringers of life.”

“My name is Yolonda Giantslayer of Clan Morgrain… and yes my mother is now a Goddess.

It really was her who did it all, King Yolo…(still don’t really think of him as Dad) screwed things up dropping a mountain and killing a few hundred of our finest people right off the bat… Arrot was a friend of mine and well… I doubt we’ll ever see him again. Anyway it was Mom who decided to fix this, she collected her friends and went right to the source staring down the God who had tricked dad and forcing him to give her a wish… she then brought the wish to me and gave me the honour of using it to dispel the death cloud. Gabrielle knew that like grandma, Mom is a total bad ass, you see rumor has it that Cthulhu came a knocking, and Gabrielle decided if he was gonna throw down against the Great Old One he wanted a little more of our family standing beside him so BOOM right there he makes Mom a god, and she give Cthulhu the stare of death… old tentacle face takes one look at her being all pissed of like and is all like ‘I’m out, did not sign on for this’. So then what happens? Mom busts her ass to get down here, get us off the island and single handily clears the battlefield of any remaining devils and then, cause she is a classy lady, she lets King Yolo walk up to the door and take credit for all her hard work… not really sure why here, but Sir Alana thinks it’s because Mom is blinded by the tradition of patriarchy, but that she we should still respect her. Anyway, King Yolo is getting all the credit, but it was really Mom, er Selwyn Sudari who won the war”

“My Name is Edgar Smith… I’m doing Pan-Tastick… thanks to Pan.”

“My name is Argthule, the Ent, I was there, I saw how VA day occurred. The Lord Everlast at long last stepped forth. He had had enough of death, enough of the senselessness of it all, I watched as he poured his consciousness into Argyle itself and empowered each solider, each creature to find the way to victory, he has long held this factionist would together, and on this day he assured our victory, he is a humble being and would not ask for credit… but I know, and the forest of Natork know the reason that we truly live this day… Thank you Raven Everlast.”

Cthulhu is the Great Old One, Himself, living in death-like slumber at the bottom of the sea (until recently). No mortal can dare describe in any accuracy what Cthulhu and the other Old Ones look like, but one cultist, Old Castro, came close: Although all of them describe him as resembling a corpulent mind flayer with far more tentacles, and wings that stretch for nearly a thousand feet, while he himself stands at least five hundred feet tall.

“They were not composed altogether of flesh and blood. They had shape…but that shape was not made of matter. When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live. But although They no longer lived, They would never really die. They all lay in stone houses in Their great city of R’lyeh, preserved by the spells of mighty Cthulhu for a glorious resurrection when the stars and the earth might once more be ready for Them. “

Vecna the Maimed lord described Cthulhu several times in the book of vile darkness an excerpt of such being “It would be a mistake to call Cthulhu evil, for he is beyond such petty concepts, he has mastered magic, psionics, divinity, and technology in such a way that lesser beings are incapable of understanding.”

None can truly understand the minds of the Old Ones, much less Cthulhu, Himself. All humans can comprehend is that, right now, He desires His freedom from His prison-home, R’lyeh. He possesses a vast empire across the multiverse, and his work can be found wherever a far realm exists. From Oerth, to Faerun, to Argyle to Eberron. From the scheming pits of Baator, to the Fields of Arborea. From the order of mechanus, to the chaos of limbo. Cthulhu’s touch is everywhere. Thus one can expect he could very possibly wish to expand his dominion.

Notes:

The thing about Cthulhu is he’s really tough, but besides all the mind effecting issues, all he has documented for offense are melee, and a single cast per day of Implosion or summoning 2d4 starspawn (or even Gate-ing in more). As such, I’d recommend using a lich or construct; That would take care of the mind effecting effects (and Implosion), and with a Ring of Ferocious Action would also be able to avoid the stagger.

Though lichdom is out of the question for myself using one in the offense may be worthwhile, else finding some immunity to death effects through other means, so not too large a loss. Could try buying some constructs for distractions instead, but they’d end up shredded pretty quickly in melee… Could still be useful, as could a horde of basic undead for it to waste turns trampling…

The notes continue on this thought line for many pages before discounting the possibility, it would cause someone to go too far to the realm of evil and that would surrender too much control to the dark lord.

Other defensive stuff… Cushioning Bands will help with the inevitable grapple-constriction of your melee warriors. Also, while the True Seeing he has lets him see through any illusions, it doesn’t let him see through any smoke or mist that actually exists, although you’ll want to use non-magical sources if possible since he has at-will dispel magic…

As for your offense… I don’t have many of ideas. Cthulthu is all sorts of difficult, perhaps more than is meant for any mortal creature to ponder. Him being an aberration rather than an outsider really limits the spells. I do note that unlike most powerful creatures, the only energy he’s noted to be immune to is cold, so could totally bury him in acid or lava via gate, although he’d likely use his at-will greater teleport to leave.. I’m really not sure what would work well.

Descends into recommended gating spells and talks about locations on key planes to gather lave or acid and which would have least chance of pulling enemies to destroy you

I have heard back from a source on Eberon and am told that Cthulhu is in fact Not immune to polymorph spells, just petrification. Although those are of limited usefulness due to spell resistance perhaps there is something that could be done here?

On Gating

Given that Gate can summon a max of 2x your caster s power worth of outsiders; I could theoretically call upon any outsider to aid me, even the strongest of demon lords. Although any specific deity/demon lord/empyreal lord can choose to not follow along, and anything at all over my circle level won’t be under my control, so I’ll want something good aligned unless I have some clout with specific dark ones, perhaps pretend to be my other self?. Perhaps their hatred for Cthulhu runs deep enough for a temporary truce?

Unfortunately the empyreal lords are unreliable at the moment, no direct connect to Cenarius, the most likely to come to aid, so if I want to call forth something that could fight equally against Cthulhu reliably I’d need to get a demon lord or archduke of hell, which would… require quite a lot of evil incentive for them.

With that in mind… the two things summons need to deal with are melee, which is a big deal, and instant-death mind effecting stuff, which is a bigger deal. A Ghaele azata could use it’s incorporeal form ability to either be immune to or severely resist the melee, depending on if Epic natural attacks count as magic for incorporeal interactions or not..? . But… Likely those would instantly die as soon as they appear, to Cthulu’s aura. Barring undead from the negative energy plane, which would also have the “are evil” problem, next best case would be Inevitables which are all immune to mind effecting and death effects. I’m not sure if it’d be better to call one or two strong ones or a horde of weaker ones though… perhaps I should consult Selwyn on summoning theory here…

Goes on to discuss summing theory and advantages between many or few

Perhaps using Time Stop 7 times in a row and fill the room with draughts of endless water before using my final turn to cast a Mage’s Magnificent Mansion and then Dimension Door myself into the mansion the second the time stop ended and let Cthulhu drown .Though he appears to be an aberrant nothing is documented of his ability to breath water? Could I lock down a plane and pull this off? I would need a greater power to seal the plane, but if it could be done…

Followed by math calculations of water flow, and magic items designed to counterspell water breathing or air creation spells

What about a suitcase with explosive runes on it, inside the case there is a box with fire trap, inside that another box with fire trap and so on… by my calculations I could get up to twenty three different castings in the single suitcase… I could cast a spell temporarily making him vulnerable to fire and then… how do I get him to read the runes to set the whole thing in motion… I could break the case, but would die in the resulting explosion as well…. Hmmmm

Need Town Saver?

Or a Samurai with contingency deathless… and making an honorable stand?

Erindale floated above and behind the southern army. He’d not been placed in command of this front due to his “apparent conflicts” with the Everlast and company. He was here to provide magically support “as he saw fit”. What a crock of shit, he was by several thousand years the most experienced in the waging of war, the most experienced in magic and certainly the most knowledgeable of devils. And ehre he as, relegated to support mage status. So be it.

THRROOOOM

He felt the fabric of reality tear; with a wave of his hand he saw what was happening and knew what was to come.

“FOOLS” he cursed. Knowing that the fault of this would revolve around the Everlast and his naïve companions. His instinct was to teleport away, that certainly would be the wise thing to do, but as he prepared to go he looked down at the troops, almost 60,000 of them spread across the field, many of the devils were in retreat and teleporting away now, his army was actually cheering, they had no idea what would be upon them in minutes. He shook his head, the poor ignorant soldiers, they were always the ones to pay for the crimes of stupidity committed by their commanders. His conscious battled for a few moments but soon settled that he could not leave this many here to die, no matter how much their leaders deserved such a sobering lesson. He sighed reaching into his bag of holding and began pulling long steel gem incrusted rods… this would be a costly spell, his eyebrows raised as he did the math, this might be one of the largest spells he’d ever cast, and this time without a cabal of wizards supporting him.

With a flick of the wrist he teleported to the ground at the back of the line and jammed a gem incrusted rod into the ground, then quickly he teleported again appearing a hundred feet down the line and repeating the process. He did this 98 times, taking longer towards the end as he had to begin explaining himself to the forward troops telling them if they wished to live not to leave his newly formed oblong. It became easier quickly as the cloud of death raced over the mountain towards them.

Erindale took position in the air over the army once more, each gem began to glow and funnel power towards sending a beautiful arc of multicolored light to the next gem in line and to him simultaneously. He began to reach into the weave and speak the ancient words of magic. He could feel the conflict with the newer gods, with the newer structures of magic but pushed these aside, the pitiful magic of this era could save no one this day. The magic needed more, and quickly he funneled his resources into it, his staff, robes, pouches of items and medallions all faded to dust as their magic’s were absorbed. Centuries quickly attacked him as he funneled his life force into the spell, it was a hungry creature and needed to be fed, but at last the beast was sated… the cloud rushed forward but soon found nothing but an empty crater to swallow.

King Yolo Giantslayer of Clan Morgrain sighed with a heavy heart. This was not how things were supposed to be. He had been gone for three weeks as he knew it, three weeks to handle a relevant threat and bring back his people so that his daughters might be born in his old home. So much had changed, he still wasn’t sure entirely of what had happened or how much time had passed, Selwyn had given him snippets but the message was clear, he had fucked everything up.

He had missed his children’s birth, missed the rise and attack of this terrible Cthulu creature, and missed his children’s entire childhood. He had missed a failed liberation of the rune towers, something he may have been able to change. His wife had fallen from grace and become a human, then become an avatar all without his support our counsel. His eldest daughter had become a women and joined the army becoming a Captain, his other daughter whom he had not yet met had disappeared onto the planes for years, returned and was now being held hostage by a silver dragon. His best friend, good old Rilar had been turned to the enemy and had needed to be slain by his companions, he’d not been there to help any of them. Then to top it all of he had crashed a mountain into the side of the world possibly killing his entire army and any remnants of his people he’d had left. To put it lightly Yolo was having a bad day. For the first time ever he seriously considered giving up; forget about being a good King, or general, he couldn’t even be a good husband or father. His shoulders felt heavy as did the axe in his grasp, he was suddenly very tired as the years of battle, then captivity, and then more furious battle came racing up to meet him all at once. With great effort he hefted the axe up over his shoulder and took a slow step forward, he would finish this at least, would make every effort to save as many as he could from his foolishness and stupidity, but after that perhaps it was time to let the running around and battling be handled by younger more competent, more intelligent, dwarves.

He looked over to Selwyn, almost the same, perhaps more beautiful than before; offered her a half smile as they prepared to go forward. She had shouldered so much, handled everything while he’d been gone, and even now she walked forward calmly and unphassed. It dawned on him at last, she truly was out of his league; this was a women who kept the company of Avatars and Gods, what was she doing with an idiotic old soldier masquerading as a King? She deserved far better, as did her daughters. He took another deep breath and entered Yngils Plane with her. He’d set this right, and do his best to make her proud before… before whatever will be… became.

Moredakka stretched looking about his plane of now not chairs. He felt he had come to an epiphany that he would be that, the Lord of Individuals, Heroes, Freedom. He who acts for what is right, right now. As he had made his decision his ‘companion’ had evaporated… he supposed he wasn’t needed now, but still here he stood alone unsure of how to proceed. He looked around again… nothing, nothing new anyway, just the endless green, with a tiny patch of sky over his two chairs.

“Now what?” he muttered to himself

“Now what indeed” came a voice from his left, he found he did not have to turn, he knew it was Pan, knew that the creature was standing about twenty feet behind him and knew that Pan held no hostilities towards him and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Pan was real, very powerful and only to be slightly trusted. He didn’t know how he knew these things… but he just did. Moredakka turned slowly to meet him.

“Pan” he said by way of greeting “what are you doing here? What is this place?” the Satyr moved forward and gestured towards one of the chairs. Moredakka nodded and the creature hoped into the seat. Moredakka tentatively took the other seat.

“What am I doing here? I told you I would come… it took a little bit to find you, but I am a man of my word… usually. Anyway I try not to miss events like this, it has long been an area of interest of mine”

“Events like what? Where are we?”

“Where are we? That is actually a really good question, we are… well… I don’t know, you haven’t named it yet… so I guess we are nowhere right now… huh.” The Satyr shrugged as he looked about again and then focused back on Moredakka “I like to watch and see when new Divine Beings are born” Moredakka couldn’t help but smile

“So I am a God then?” he asked

“Not even close” Pan said, Moredakka looked confused

“A Divine being, well sort of… a God… you’re a long ways off… Gods need power, and followers and worlds… you have none of those things… which leads to the sad part”

“The sad part?”

“Ya, the sad part… you see… this place… you, everything that you are, that you just defined… those are all powered by mortals… funny little things those mortals, they seldom have any idea just how powerful they truly are… Anyway, without them, this place will very quickly burn up and crumble and you will dissolve into pure divine dust and be spread across the cosmos… it is actually a very beautiful thing to watch”

“That Can’t Happen!” Moredakka said, “You can help me, you can believe in me…” Pan was already shaking his head

“No I can’t… you are powered by faith… I am not a mortal, I know you are real… thus no faith, thus no power… you need a mortal to believe in you” Moredakka looked around again and saw a white fog in the distance slowly moving in.

“Raven believes in everyone… he will believe in me” The Satyr looked at Moredakka and slowly shook his head

“You… Need… A… Mor…tal… To… Be…lieve. That means, Raven, your Kelezandri friends… heck even the fallen angel do not count… and they need to believe in you in a way consistent with total faith… even if they did count as mortals they all worship other deities, none would be converting to your banner” the fog cloud was moving slow it would be hours before it reach the center. Moredakka thought hard

“I could go down and get followers, that’s not hard” again Pan was shaking his head

“You sir, cannot leave you plane while it is still forming, or collapsing as it may be… you are stuck here… you need someone to call out to you”

“THAT’S STUPID, WHOMADETHESERULES? HOW IS ANYONESUPPOSED TO DO THIS?”

“Most people train and build u worshipers before mowing down on golden apples… you sir… well my professional opinion is… that at least your end will be beautiful”

“I don’t believe it… there has to be another way”

“that is your option to explore” Pan said but didn’t sound like he believed it… Moredakka stared out at the fog and concentrated, there had to be another way

Gornak saw the mountain slamming down towards the valley; he and his trolls had been placed in the lower reaches of the hills but quickly began ascending as they saw what was coming. The Mountain screamed and hissed as it slammed into the ground sending a tsunami of dirt roaring after them. Gornak knew that the slower among his clan would be no more, he had felt the dirt quaking at his heels.

THRRROOOOM

He couldn’t breathe; he was flat on his face, the air ripped from his lungs an eye popped out of its socket. He tried to get up, tried to catch his breath but he felt as if a giant stood on his back

“elp…” he managed to croak with his left hand he flailed about, he tried to roll over, to see what had hit him… A troll faced death, he did not flee from it… so were the teachings of Kabash; at last he managed. The valley was encompassed in a giant dark cloud that soared into the sky… the cloud began to collapse and rush for him… he felt the heat emanating form this cloud and knew it for what it was…. Death

Captain Jon Sanderson rolled into the ditch

“NOW NOWNOW!” he screamed indicating to the rangers and clerics… the group had been at the top of Eldar, the captain had seen what had befallen their troll friends and prayed to Kelezandri that this would not be their fate. The Rangers and Clerics present began their spells, thick layers of ice sealed them into the ditch, as the seconds ticked the ice got thicker, 6 inches, 7 inches, 9 inches, 11inches… the Captain and the unit watched and counted the agonizing seconds. Twenty three seconds… or twenty eight inches thick was when the cloud erupted over their ditch and blacked out the sky. There was no light… the Captain had could feel the ice becoming steam, he heard the casters mumble but knew that this time magic would not be enough. “Forgive me Kelezandri… I come home to soon” the icey barrier was sucked upwards in a resounding POP, as two were many of the men… the pain did not last long enough to register, that was the only blessing offered.

Prometheus had felt the earth shake, and seen the cloud, had sensed the sudden change in the winds and air currents. People mocked his methods for connecting to the universe, but this day he felt her pain.

“ROPE, I NEEDEACHSHIPANDRAFT TO ATTACHBOWLINES TO THELONGESTCORDAGEYOUHAVENOW!” The titans’ voice boomed. He held no rank in any military, why should he?… but the men, dwarves, trolls, dactyls, fey and elves present listened well. Quickly there was scurrying on each raft and ship preparing as directed. He looked to the amassed crews on the shores, there were hundreds of people here, logistics, the Dact Pipers, medical, quartermasters… were they to die here? There was not room on all the ships. The Titan leapt onto the shore and spun his might trident around and began to dig a great trench.

“GREAT UNCLEAYRZUL, PLEASESHELTERTEHSEYOUNGLINGSFROMTHECOMING STORM” then too the onlookers he yelled “INTO THETRENCH! NOW! TAKENOTHINGBUTYOURLIVES!” he went so far as to lean down and scoop up many of slower people and gently put them into the trench. “I WILLNOTFORGETYOULITTLEONES, HOLDOUTAND I WILLRETURNFOR YOU” he then turned and picked up his great surf board. He hefted it twice “WE’D HAVEDONEGREATTHINGS TOGETHER” he said to himself as he laid it over the trench wedging it into the sides at about half of the forty foot depth. Then seeing the cloud coming and daring not to tarry much longer he piled the dirt on his surf board effectively filling in the trench, he left the remainder on the dirt he’d excavated on the cloud coming side, hoping it would provide more cover.

“Prometheus… Prometheus!”

He swung his attention to the Avatar Aleau who was calling him from the deck of the Claw…

“YES AVATAR?” he said

“This is bad, really bad… I need to speak with our Lord at once…” she trailed off not knowing what to say… there was little to say

“GO QUICKLY SO THATFATHERMAYINSPIREAID, I WILL DO WHAT I CAN HERE” she nodded whispering a word and disappearing. Prometheus gathered all the roped from the bows of the rafts and ships, the Claw and Narwhale were in the air and leaving already. But that still left him with some six thousand lives in his hands. The titan placed the ropes over his shoulders and began to pull moving as quickly as he could against the current as he pulled them upstream trying desperately to get as much distance as he could from the ever racing cloud of death.

King Francis surveyed the battle, he was in a forward section along the left flank of the eastern front leading the Honalain, Tukin and North Hutt host against the devils. The fighting had been heavy earlier, but now about ten minutes ago they had been granted a reprieve as the spell casters joint spells had forced the enemies to disengage and reposition. King Francis had taken this time to have the wounded tended to, weapons swapped out that tended to be and mounts watered.

TRHOOOM!

The very earth beneath his feet shuddered violently; the veteran solider looked around for the caster but quickly realised the scope, the enemy suffered as much as he they did under the quake. As he scanned the surrounding area, off to the west he saw a huge plume, a cloud that must be miles away he looked to his men and back to the cloud as he saw a wall of darkness begin to expand and race towards them. He turned to speak to his accompanying knights

“Percival, I’m not sure what this is but….”

WHAMMMM!

He felt himself flying through the air and had the sense to roll as he slammed into the ground. He had but a second before he rolled again avoiding a mount that came slamming into the same space he occupied. His ears were ringing, a quick check showed blood coming from his nose. He staggered to his feet checking his men and found that the entire eastern front, allied and enemy alike had been hit by this… this shockwave. As he tried to regain his senses he reassessed the cloud his was coming, a wall of Black Death, and it traveled at terrific speeds.

“Percival… Percival where are you?” he called looking among the scattered chaos that had been his army

“Here sir,” the young knight called out as he clamored to his feet

“Percival… Go quickly to Pelegious… summon every Honalain who can cast… I need them all… now!… go!”

“It will be done your Highness” the young knight saluted and teleported away

“Sir Bently?” the King called

“Aye Sir?” another knight called back, he was disengaging himself from a dead mount

“I want our people spread as evenly as possible among the eastern front… That cloud can’t be good… it might be a derivative of that black ooze, and by the magic this time we will be ready.

“Understood your Highness” the Knight quickly began barking orders to various honalains and began to move his men, even as the first ones from Pelegious began to appear

It was then that General Nigel’s voice sounded in the Kings Ear

“DIG, DUCKDISENGAGE!!!!!” the orders where hollered into the spell and in the background the hurried voices of Moredakka and some command staff could be heard. Francis looked to the collapsing horizon again… they had moments before the Cloud hit

“By the Might of Man… someone please help us” he said as he threw up a small spell of shielding… nearby knights quickly fed magic into it quickly beginning to cover the eastern front.

Captain Thorlan sat in the main barracks of Pelegius with the core team, he swallowed; briefing Avatars, Queens and Princes was intimidating, but General Nigel had insisted that this briefing look like a troop inspection and thus not ttake place in the senate chambers in order to throw off potential spies. He took a deep breath hoping that the Hed Moredakka didn’t get annoyed and eat him and then plunged intpo his briefing

“In three days this team, with a small contingent of 400 additional personal, will be teleporting to the valley of Bassantar located on the western front of the Dwarven Stronghold. The valley has already been scouted by the Squashin Skylanders and has seen little to no enemy interference in the last week. The valley is flanked by the eastern Hill, from this point forward called Belegear, and the taller wester hill from this point called Eldar. You have about 11 kilometers that run through the valley to the point where Eldar and Belegear connect in the south to make what we are hoping when this is done a land bridge. Your team will need to secure this valley and keep in clear until such a time that King Yolo and his troops arrive… we do not know how they are planning to come, but conventional teleport will not allow matter to port into matter so we must assure that floor of the valley remains clear. The bulk of our armies are at the Eastern and southern fronts where they will be engaging the main devil host in an attempt to break the siege, and mostly distract. Once you have King Yolos troops it is imperative that you get them up to the land bridge asap. The Avatars will be summoning their miracle which if all goes according to plan will create a new river system that will feed into Bassantar valley flooding it and becoming a lake. This river system and wave will bring you 6000 additional troops including but not limited to Prometheus, the Stubby Narwhale, Kelezandirs Claw and the Wandering Buccaneer. From here you are to take your army of now 10k and immediately cut through the 7k of devil assailing the Western Supply Gate of the Stronghold… once this is completed you are to Signal General Orin who with the aid of the 11th Dact Engineers will be porting in and assembling one of our way gates, from here your team is to keep the western door open, make connection with the dwarves inside and contact us to what is needed, food, weapons, medics and equipment are being kept on standby to be brought in… King Yolo will take command of the operation from here to advise either an evacuation, a reinforcement of the western end or a sortie to the south and east to fight the remaining devils. Once the Western Gate is open we are expecting a lot of devils to be porting in to your location… We know for a fact Nefruitous is commanding this region so don’t be surprised to see him show up. Ummm… does anyone have any questions?”

Captain Thorlan cleared his throat again to see if his briefing was clear.